Odd Lots · Thursday, July 30, 2026
Beyond oil, Iran possesses a diversified economy including car manufacturing, steel plants, and a large agricultural sector, largely developed post-revolution for self-sufficiency. However, control over these industries has gradually shifted from formal state entities to a 'shadow state' linked to security forces and clerics, often bypassing public accountability.
“So I think, of course, yeah, oil is a big one. It has kind of this huge resource that's very valuable and that it can kind of use the fund itself. But also Iran has a pretty diversified economy in terms of its industrial base, and that is partially as a result of kind of the Shaw Zone policies. But then also sort of this idea that took root after the revolution, that we need to provide for ourselves, we need to be self sufficient.”
“So Iran has a car industry. Iran has steel plants that were built after the Iran Iraq War and it became operational sort of after the iron I Rock War that produce you know, huge amounts of steel, you know, kind of leading the Middle East in that industry. And these industries are maybe not necessarily the most efficient, and they don't have a ton of foreign investment, but they provide employments.”
“Over time, and we can we should kind of talk about this more, the control over those industries moves away from sort of the recognized parts of the state into kind of this shadow state, you know, which is sort of much more linked to the security forces and to these entities that are kind of controlled by the clerics but aren't really accountable to the rest of the government.”